FAYETTEVILLE – First in Freedom Daily recently featured an exclusive interview with candidate for North Carolina House District 44 Patrick Petsche. Petsche is young, conservative, and not a fan of compromising his constitutional principles for Democrats, or even Republicans that stray from limited government policies.

That, apparently, is enough for the Establishment to view Petsche as a threat to the status quo.

Petsche was the only Republican running in his district all the way until the day of the filing deadline on February 28 when, in the last hours, Linda Devore slipped under the wire and filed to run against him in the primary.

Devore is a former Cumberland County GOP chair, and according to voting records voted for Democrats in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles at least.

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The news came as a surprise to Petsche supporters and Cumberland County political veterans.

Jerry Reinoehl, long involved in the county Republican movement and familiar with Devore, said he was befuddled by Devore’s late entry.

“It was sort of a surprise when she came out because I don’t think anyone expected her to file, and I don’t think anybody expected anybody else to file as a Republicans for that NC 44 seat. She’s had a history of running unsuccessfully for office in the past and that normally isn’t a good track record to move forward, especially against somebody like Bill Richardson who is a popular individual […]”

Reinoehl is supporting Petsche because he thinks the young conservative represents the future of the Republican Party and emphasized that local, state, and national party leaders have been encouraging young, principled candidates like Petsche to run.

“He’s the one that I view basically as the future of North Carolina politics, not the past. The younger generation, those that have traditional conservative values, we need to be endorsing them and trying to encourage them to get involved and stay involved because that’s the future of the party.

I expect to get some push back from within the county party on my endorsement of Patrick’s candidacy.”

So why would Devore, a repeat election loser that was voting for Democrats in the 2006 and 2008 cycles, decide at the last minute to challenge Petsche?

Sources on the ground in Cumberland County tell First in Freedom Daily that Devore, who until recently was supporting Petsche, was offended by his use of the term ‘RINO’ in an interview when discussing his immovable devotion to upholding conservative principles.

Apparently for Devore, RINO is a derogatory and divisive term. That view should make conservatives wonder about Devore, who has voted for Democrats in the past, and why she is so defensive regarding that term. Just where her loyalties really lie? We know she is close to the GOP Establishment in the County and would represent the status quo, at the very least.

In an interview with the Fayetteville Observer, Devore said, “voters should elect her because she would be part of the Republican majority in the legislature, and therefore better positioned to influence public policy,” adding that more civility is needed in public discourse.

“It severely strains the limits of our representative form of government when identity politics and political correctness are driving discussion, rather than good ideas.”

Actually, any Republican elected to the seat would be in the majority and in a position to influence policy. Further, Petsche is nothing if not an ‘ideas man,’ and those that cringe at the term RINO would seem to themselves be committed to upholding political correctness.

Attempts to reach Devore for comment were unsuccessful.

Our suspicion is that Petsche was emerging as too big a threat to business as usual on Jones Street, and so the Establishment had to intervene via a last minute Devore candidacy. It’s not that surprising: Other principled conservatives, such as Chris Millis and Bill Cook, were drummed out of the N.C. House and Senate respectively, and remaining conservative stalwarts are consistently marginalized.

What’s more, the Cumberland County GOP is reportedly deleting comments to its Facebook page that congratulate Devore, yet ultimately issue support for Petsche.

Deleting comments and blocking individuals for simply expressing support for Petsche, while positive commentary on Devore is left untouched?

Bobby Fortune, a veteran and Petsche supporter, is concerned with Devore’s late entry and the County GOP’s apparent favoritism in a primary race.

“I’ve watched it pretty closely and how most people have been supportive of [Petsche], and the county got behind him, and then out of nowhere they file another candidate and kind of steal away the focus from November. I actually congratulated her on Facebook when they posted [Devore’s candidacy] on the GOP page and my comment was actually deleted and I was blocked from the page entirely just because I commented that I thought Patrick was more suited to win in November.

It’s kind of shocking because the GOP page is supposed to be impartial for primary races. This is why people don’t like politics, this is why people don’t like the Republican Party because it’s corruption on even the smallest level.[…]

If anyone posts anything even mentioning Patrick it’s deleted.”

Something smells awfully bad in Cumberland County.

A young, energetic, unapologetic conservative with momentum to unseat a popular incumbent Democrat now has his legs cut out from under him by an Establishment Democrat-Turned-Republican that is offended by the term RINO.

If you live in the district, or even if you don’t, and you believe that principled conservatives that don’t sell out to Big Government schemes of either party are exactly what we need on Jones Street, be sure to show your support for Patrick Petsche in his sudden primary against the Establishment.